A review of inexact optimization modeling and its application to integrated water resources management

Water is crucial in supporting people’s daily life and the continual quest for socio-economic development. It is also a fundamental resource for ecosystems. Due to the associated complexities and uncertainties, as well as intensive competition over limited water resources between human beings and ecosystems, decision makers are facing increased pressure to respond effectively to various water-related issues and conflicts from an integrated point of view. This quandary requires a focused effort to resolve a wide range of issues related to water resources, as well as the associated economic and environmental implications. Effective systems analysis approaches under uncertainty that successfully address interactions, complexities, uncertainties, and changing conditions associated with water resources, human activities, and ecological conditions are desired, which requires a systematic investigation of the previous studies in relevant areas. Systems analysis and optimization modeling for integrated water resources management under uncertainty is thus comprehensively reviewed in this paper. A number of related methodologies and applications related to stochastic, fuzzy, and interval mathematical optimization modeling are examined. Then, their applications to integrated water resources management are presented. Perspectives of effective management schemes are investigated, demonstrating many demanding areas for enhanced research efforts, which include issues of data availability and reliability, concerns over uncertainty, necessity of post-modeling analysis, and the usefulness of the development of simulation techniques.